Paley Park
by RockyGlenn
Summary: Peggy is coming in to meet with Captain American and his squadron and Steve is wondering about a date. Will the Star Spangled man with a plan have a plan when it comes to asking Agent Carter out on a date? Just a one-shot I wrote, trying to stir some inspiration up. My first try at the Steve and Peggy. Reviews are welcome.


Steve nervously tugged on his sleeves, sitting up straight as he stared at the phone. He cleared his throat and picked up the receiver, putting it to his ear. He dialed the first number then put it back down, his hands shaking. Ever since he heard the news, it was not much resting. One more Hydra plant down. The next one could wait for a night.

"Oh, come on, Steve. You've faced down battalions of Germans, but you can't call a girl?" Bucky taunted from few feet away, working on polishing his boots. Steve sighed, running his fingers through his hair nervously.

"Yeah, well…Those Germans don't sound so bad about now." Steve said quietly, letting his voice trail off. He cleared his throat again and took a deep breath before picking up the receiver. He quickly dialed the number and then put a hand over his eyes, listening. _Riiiiiing…..Riiiiiing…..Riiiiiiing_. "Maybe, she's not—"

"Hello, Officer Peggy Carter speaking" Steve sits there frozen for a moment.

"Hi…I mean…uh…Captain Steve Rogers." He said quietly. "Ma'am."

"Oh, how are you, Captain?" She asks, her voice becoming more familiar sounding.

"Listen, we're in Lion, right now. I heard that-"

"Lyon." She corrected, an amused smile on her face.

"Of course, ma'am. My mistake." He said with a sigh. "I mean to say that we're in Lyon and I received news that you would be driving in to meet with us, tonight."

"Yes, that's correct."

"Well, I was wondering…I know this nice Café in the city and I…I figured that….Well, I was wondering if you wanted to…If maybe you…"

"It's good to see that your change in stature has not affected your personality, Steve." She said with an audible smile. "If you're asking me to go to dinner with you, then I'll see you tonight at 8 o clock." Steve grinned, seeming surprised.

"Sure thing. I'll see you there, ma'am. Peggy. Ma'am." He said before hanging up. "8 o clock." Steve said, turning toward Bucky.

"You keep smiling like that, you're face is gonna get stuck that way." Bucky said, setting his boots down.

"What time is it?" Steve asked, standing up quickly. He looked around a moment then hung up his dress greens, starting to change. Bucky quickly stood and stopped him, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Steve. Relax. You have four hours." Bucky said with a laugh. "Go…polish your shield or something."

"I really don't want to mess this up, Buck. It's my first date." He said with a sigh.

"What about all those girls I put you up with?" He laughed, patting Steve on the arm.

"Yeah. Girls love a guy who holds the popcorn."

"Well…nowadays, it looks like I'm holding the popcorn."

"You just wait til we get back to Brooklyn." He said before slugging him in the shoulder.

The four hours passed a lot slower than Steve had thought. He was aching and anxious to get to the café and see her arrive. Being late really wasn't an option in his mind. Unless, they got attacked which would be excusable. He got dressed in his greens and arrived at the café around 7:50 as late as Bucky let him. It was a quiet café that they had driven past. It reminded him of a nice restaurant in Brooklyn that he had frequented. He got beat up behind it a lot.

It was quiet except for some soft music playing, the area only lit by candlelight. He got a table and sat nervously, waving off the waitress several times as he waited, nervously thinking about what to do and what to say, his mind so preoccupied that it took him a moment to recognize the beautiful woman approaching him. He shook himself and quickly stood up, looking at her a little more closely. She was wearing a red dress, the same one she wore at the pub that one night, hugging her body, a welcome change from the uniform.

"Wow. You look…"

"Thanks. You do, too." Peggy said, the rouge on her lips curling into a smile. Steve moved to pull out her chair, letting her sit down before taking his own seat across from her. "How did the mission go today?"

"Oh, just fine. Gabe got grazed on the arm. Dum Dum's ears are ringing a little bit, but that's about it. A successful mission, I'd say. Tomorrow we hit a train that is said to be carrying some…Dr. Zola. He's a biochemist that's working with HYDRA. Hopefully, capturing him alive will give us some information as to where we can find Schmidt." He explained, looking up and closing his mouth when the waitress comes by. They order quickly and she turns back to him. "We're really looking for the—"

"We're not going to talk about the mission all night are we?" she asks, taking a sip of coffee. "Tell me about yourself. Not Captain America. Not the Star-Spangled Man. Steven Grant Rogers." She said, an amused smile on her face.

"What's there to tell? You've read my file." He said, giving a somewhat bashful shrug. "I mean…I was born in Brooklyn. Both my parents were poor Irish immigrants. We didn't have much growing up. Bucky and I grew up together. My dad died when I was just a kid and my mom died when I was 16 of pneumonia. I really only had Bucky for a good part of my life and he only had me." He sighed and looked up at her, shrugging a little bit.

"And now you're a mainstream celebrity, your pal James "Bucky" Barnes at your side."

"Oh, I'm no different than any of the other soldiers. In fact, I feel lucky that I've got Erskine's serum in me. I just try and fight for the guys who volunteered for this without having the odds evened this much."

"That's what makes you different, Steve." She said, reaching across, putting her hand on his. "That's why you were chosen. Start running and they never let you stop." She said, arching an eyebrow at him. "Sound familiar? Just because you're a super soldier now, doesn't mean that you're not the same nervous, skinny man eager to fight for what's right."

"Well, I don't plan on running away. I would just hate to have someone I care about get hurt for protecting me. Handling me with kid gloves because I was expensive to make." He said with a shrug. "I just have to have the right partner."

"The right partner." She repeated, looking down at the table shyly for a moment. "Have you found the right one yet?"

"Well, I don't think we're talking about battle anymore…" he said quietly, his voice trailing off as he catches her gaze. He cleared his throat and stood, smoothing out his pants. He moved to her side of the table and offered her his hand. "Would you like to dance, ma'am?"

"Well, I figured that tonight would be a good time to learn, ma'am." He said with a nervous smile. She took his hand, standing with him, holding his hand tightly as they made their way to a more open area. The music had changed to something a little bit quicker and he pulled away from her for a moment. "I'll have the band play something slow. I'd hate to step on your—"

Steve woke up, the scent of her perfume hanging in his mind. He could still remember it. He could remember everything about her. Being asleep for seventy years did nothing to make it hurt less. Seventy years late for a dance he would never get. He sat up and put his face in his hands, his breathing still heavy with disappointment. After sleeping for seventy years dreams were just never the same and ever since he woke up, it's been the same dream with the same heartbreaking ending.

He swung his feet off the side of his bed, pushing his covers off his legs. He took a deep breath as he stood, his eyes moving to the phone next to his bed, the file labeled 'Carter, Margaret' on his nightstand. He had spent many nights pouring over the file and even more thinking about calling her. Just telling her that he wasn't dead. Would she even remember him? All of these questions taxed his mind and it made it even worse that he was reminded of them every night.

He did what he did most days: grabbed his fist wraps and headed to the gym. He took the same route every morning. Right along 53rd Street. As he passed Madison Avenue, he looked around. He had mostly kept his head down. He didn't want to get used to this version of New York. He had memories of Brooklyn that he didn't want to think were covered up with some skyscraper or some vacant lot. He passed a large gate to his right and kept on his way, but stopped when he felt a tug on his jacket sleeve. He stopped and turned to see a small girl, looking up at him. He glanced around and then crouched down to look at her. She smiled a gap-filled grin, her brown curls in a mop around her face.

"What can I do you for, kiddo?" He asked, giving her a smile.

"You look like the man in my Auntie's picture." She says with a smile. Steve furrowed his brow at the girl.

"Well, it's probably just a coincidence. I have one of those faces, you know?" He says, tucking a bit of hair behind her ear.

"The star-spangled man. People can't recognize you because you usually have the mask on, but I've seen the picture of you before you got all…big and muscley." She said with a giggle, squeezing his arm. Steve's breath shortened quickly.

"Who's your auntie?" He asked quietly, his voice nearly gone. "She's here in Paley Park." She said as she simply took his hand and led him over past the gate to a large garden area. There he saw an old woman, frail and small and with grey hair.

"Auntie." The little girl said as she let go of my hand. The woman, seated at a small café table turned, smiling at her niece then moving up to look at Steve. He locked eyes with her and his heart stopped for a moment as he recognized who she was.

"Sorry, I'm late, Peggy."


End file.
